First Challenge Run Rules/Playthrough Log

As opposed to many of the boards veterans, I still find Dark Souls pretty challenging as it is; but after finishing the game a few times without having to limit myself in some way and in preparation of Dark Souls II I decided to try my own challenge run. The purpose of this thread is to list the rules I will submit myself to and to serve as log for my thoughts, ideas, etc. I would also love to hear any comments, suggestions or just plain banter that you guys might offer.

So first of all here are the rules:

All Bosses (including DLC) must be killedCan't use shield to block.Must kill all mini-bosses.I can level up 5 levels per boss killed.Can't summon phantomsGame must be completed in orderCan't use the bow-strategy in BoCMust kill all NPC phantoms

Other than the no shield it's not much of a challenge and do you know that there are 30+ bosses in Dark Souls, give or take, so if you level 5 levels for every one you kill you're going to end up at like SL 180-190.

Any suggestion on how I can make it more challenging? And there are 26 bosses in the game, so maybe reducing the level ups to 3 per boss (which gives me an end level between 79 and 84 depending on my starting class)

I'd rather say no leveling up at all but if you still find yourself struggling with the game as it is, you sohuld allow yourself to level up a bit. That rule about killing bosses in order to "unlock" lvl ups is a good idea. But if it is supposed to be a challenge, I'd go with 1 boss = 1 lvl up. After all, challenges are made to find your limits. Also, how about "no consumables during bossfights" ? That would include no Estus, Divine Blessing, Humanity etc. but it still allows for healing miracles which are harder to pull off during a boss fight. But I guess I am the wrong guy to ask here.....